Ventura social justice organization merges with similar group in Santa Barbara

Ventura County-based CAUSE has merged with a similar group called PUEBLO of Santa Barbara County to form a single regional organization that will advocate for social justice issues on the Central Coast.

Significantly, the merger includes the incorporation of PUEBLO’s affiliated 501(4) group that will be renamed the CAUSE Action Fund. The existence of that fund will allow CAUSE, which until now has been limited in its political activities to voter registration and advocacy for ballot initiatives, to endorse candidates in Ventura County.

CAUSE, the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, will absorb the Santa Barbara group’s staff.

“It’s a perfect fit,” CAUSE Executive Director Marcos Vargas said in a news release announcing the merger. “Working families from Oxnard to Santa Maria face similar challenges, and our ability to address them at a regional level will raise the political voice and power of our communities.”

Both groups flexed some political muscle last fall when they mobilized new and infrequent voters to support Proposition 30, the tax measure that was necessary to avert $5 billion in scheduled budget cuts to schools.

CAUSE claimed credit for initiating conversations with more than 30,000 such voters, 85 percent of whom went to the polls.

Vargas said that with a broader geographic reach, the new organization will be more effective in addressing issues such as public transportation, affordable housing and community health.

The group’s focus this year, he said, will be to push for comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 110,000 undocumented immigrants living in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.